Healing Touch
"If you pursue this power, yes, you will become an unparalleled surgeon. But are you prepared for the pain it will bring you? ...Can you imagine how heavy your hands would be with the Healing Touch?" -Robert Hoffman, Under the Knife The Healing Touch (超執刀 choushittou) is a mystical power that is believed to have originated from the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, and all users of this skill are believed to descend from him. It allows the user to perform superhuman feats while doing surgery, as well as giving the user amazing medical knowledge. Two classes of Healing Touch can trigger, in addition to the subtypes with differing abilities detailed below. The first is an instinctive one, subconsciously initiated by doctors in an emergency situation. While it has no side effects and can last as long as the emergency situation persists, the doctor has no control over its use. This type is first observed shortly after Derek Stiles discovers his ability, but also kicks in near the end of a Savato operation. The second kind is manually activated, usually with the doctor increasing their focus to trigger it, and is displayed in-game via drawing a star. However, in doing so, this type of Healing Touch can be incredibly draining for the user, causing them to black out for long periods of time. As such, to prevent over-exhaustion, most doctors restrict themselves to manually using the Healing Touch once per operation. The Healing Touch can be used for things other than operating, such as it being useable when Derek was dismantling a bomb, and stopping Adel from killing him with a scalpel. This ability becomes available after a certain point in the storyline, usually also after the game guides the player through a tutorial mission on how to activate it. The Healing Touch can only be used once per operation and per doctor, and is triggered by drawing a star on screen. The Healing Touch has a fixed duration of around thirty seconds (real time), except in Under the Knife and Second Opinion, where the duration varies depending on how well the star is drawn. Types 'Speed Enhance' Speed Enhance allows the user to move with superhuman speed and precision, possibly by reducing or even eliminating any unnecessary and would otherwise be wasted movements in favor of those needed for the task at hand, along with allocating a considerable amount of mental focus and concentration to that same direction, causing the user to see the illusion that time has slowed down. To bystanders, it would look like the user is moving extremely fast. The user is able to move twice as fast in DS games and four times as fast on Wii games, every in-game second will last four/two real life seconds while Speed Enhance is active. The user can use Speed Enhance twice at once (by combining the instinctive and manually triggered Healing Touch), causing time to stop completely. This only happens when treating Savato. A user with Stabilizing Hands and another with Speed Enhance can combine their Healing Touches to result in the same effect. Speed Enhance not only allows the player to better manage the operation, but it can be used to shave off extra seconds for a better time bonus and allow the player to attain the special time bonus with a greater margin for error. It is best utilized when the untreated wounds can worsen over time, like hemorrhages causing large blood pools to form or burns worsening. Slowing down time can allow the player to quickly treat all the wounds before they have a chance to complicate. 'Users of Speed Enhance' *Derek Stiles *Markus Vaughn *Robert Hoffman *Adel Tulba (artificial, formerly) *HOA Doctors (artificial, formerly) *Dr. Naomi Kimishima 'Vital Lock' Vital Lock locks the patient's vitals at the number they were at when Vital Lock was activated, preventing them from raising and lowering, making the stabilizer useless. Vitals can only be reduced by something like cardiac arrest. When Vital Lock ends, vitals will raise by 10. So if you activate Vital Lock at vital 30, vitals will raise to 40. Vitals Lock is best activated when the player is anticipating a large (possibly fatal) plummet in vitals - for example, against Cardia's desperation attack. This also saves time otherwise spent keeping vitals raised. Note that this doesn't prevent your chain from breaking when complications form. If used in a pinch, the vital increase that occurs upon expiration can give a struggling player some reprieve. 'Users of Vital Lock' *Valerie Blaylock 'Stabilizing Hands' Stabilizing Hands functions as a stabilizer, causing the patient's vitals to raise by ten every time a "Good", "Cool", and "OK" is earned. The user can use Stabilizing Hands twice at once, causing time to stop completely, like Speed Enhance. This is only used when treating Mutated Savato. A user with Stabilizing Hands and another with Speed Enhance can combine their Healing Touches to result in the same effect. Stabilizing Hands is best used to combat sharply plummeting vitals - for example, when several tumors and polyps are present and doing quick vital damage over time. It is best utilized when there are multiple easily-acquired Ok's on the scene to maximize its effects in the shortest time possible. Good/Ok - 10 Vital Raise Perfect - 25 Vital Raise 'Users of Stabilizing Hands' *Naomi Kimishima 'Distraction Block' Distraction Block prevents the user from being distracted. As seen from Leonardo's replay video of his operation, Distraction Block appears similar to Speed Enhance. Unlike the three other Healing Touches, Distraction Block is the only Healing Touch that is not playable. 'Users of Distraction Block' *Leonardo Bello Strategy Despite its usefulness, a general tip for getting good at the game is to try and complete the missions without using the Healing Touch, unless necessitated by the story. In fact, in Under the Knife, manually activating the Healing Touch outside of Savato missions or the Healing Touch tutorial will automatically grant a C Rank regardless of any other bonuses achieved. This strict treatment has been eased in subsequent games where they do not penalize you for using it outside of missing any "No Healing Touch" special bonuses. In fact, certain operations on Hard have such tight time requirements that the Healing Touch is mandated to even get a S rank. If the Healing Touch is active and a story-related conversation happens, the Healing Touch duration will not drain until the player regains control of the operation. Enable Skip to ensure that the conversations are skipped through and control regained as soon as possible and minimize time wasted on the Healing Touch. If cardiac arrest is imminent, do not use the Healing Touch - regardless of type, it is largely unhelpful with the procedures for correcting the flatline, and would waste a good portion of its duration. This waste is especially prevalent if the player is expected not to try and treat the patient while the EKG is behaving abnormally. Trivia *The dialogue preceding, succeeding, and during certain levels are written as if the player had used the Healing Touch. This creates some interesting discrepancy between story and gameplay if the player had not used the Healing Touch. **A prevalent example is operation 2-4 of Under the Knife or Second Opinion, which can be completed without using the Healing Touch, but Derek faints afterwards regardless and the story strongly suggests it was used. *Since the users of the Healing Touch are believed to be descended from Asclepius, this makes it likely that parents of Healing Touch users can use it as well (Derek's parents). This could also mean the children of Healing Touch users will inherit the ability as well. *Some fans speculate CR-S01 has the Healing Touch, due to his hands seemingly glowing red right before the briefing on Twisted Rosalia and that after the operation, Maria says watching him operate was like watching a magic show. Category:Medical Terms and Procedures